Growing up I try all sorts of sports and activities. I would do some for a short time (maybe a day or two), others I would do for years. The bottom line was that no matter what I tried, nothing kept my interest. Now been a parent myself and my eldest child going to “big” soon, I thought I should do a bit of research and save myself tons of money.

Twenty million kids register each year for youth hockey, football, baseball, soccer, and other competitive sports. The National Alliance for Sports reports that 70 percent of these kids quit playing these league sports by age 13 — and never play them again.

According to Michael Pfahl, executive director of the National Youth Sports Coaches Association, “The number one reason (why they quit) is that it stopped being fun.” With figures like these, it’s time we rethink how we present youth sports to kids.

With that in mind, here are some key points to remember about your kids playing sports.

Preschool
Focus on the element of play in any sports activity you introduce to very young kids. Make it fun! Don’t burden them or concern them with competition, keeping score, and rules. Get them running, kicking, throwing, catching … and laughing. Use equipment that suits their bodies and coordination levels (toss a beanbag instead of a ball). Adapt games according to their abilities. Always offer encouraging words for all their efforts.

Elementary school
Sports psychology expert Rick Wolff, author of Good Sports, stresses that parents of kids ages 5-12 need not be concerned with their child’s excellence at such refined sports skills as corner kicks and drag bunts. “Those are unimportant,” Wolf advises. “The key here is having your child develop a sense of passion for the sport.”

Parents and coaches need to be aware of what kids can accomplish at their differing developmental levels — physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Don’t make unrealistic expectations concerning your child’s sports performance — be it in the area of muscle coordination, dedication, or attention span. Many kids lose their passion for youth sports during these years because they feel they can’t live up to their parents’ and coaches’ expectations.

Middle school
Kids start dropping out in big numbers at this stage. Playing sports loses its enjoyment for them and “fun” takes a back seat to winning. Pick-up games and just “playing for fun” should be encouraged. The key at this vulnerable stage is to keep them playing the sports they enjoy — if not on school or youth teams, then informally with friends. Not being on a team does not mean they have failed as athletes. It just means that they have to find other pleasurable ways to continue enjoying their sports.

High school
By this stage, it’s usually the successful high-school athletes who play both school sports and outside competitive-league sports. There are just so many positions to be filled on competitive teams. But what about kids who still love to play sports but can’t because of their demanding academic, social, and work lives? Parents need to remind these kids of the fun they had playing these games and help them to find time to play them with family members and friends. Helping your kids stay connected to the sports they love now can encourage them to remain physically active throughout their lives.

Our local newspaper, the Daily Dispatch, run this article this morning.

Deadly weeds choke Nahoon river – A noxious water weed is once again choking the life out of the Nahoon River, which is home to myriad species including bass, geese, fish eagles and otters. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), one of the world’s worst aquatic weeds, first threatened the river’s ecosystem last year. Now the out-of-control alien plant has blanketed large stretches of the river, with the worst outbreak occurring near the causeway that links Dorchester Heights to the Stutterheim road.

Residents living along the river bank have now questioned the municipality’s efforts in keeping one of East London’s most popular rivers unpolluted. Joan Hempel, whose farm borders the river, said: “I am dismayed at the state of the Nahoon River. The rapid growth and spread of the hyacinth has already affected the wildlife. “It seems the entire ecosystem is being choked and destroyed by this alien invader plant.” Hempel has sent numerous reports to the Department of Water Affairs hoping to pressure government to act.

“To date no one has responded or reacted to my report. I was hoping to alert them to the alarming spread of the plant. Andrew Lucas, Department of Water Affairs provincial director of water regulation and use, said clearing invasive alien plants was the responsibility of land owners. Lucas said if the land belonged to the municipality, it was the responsibility of the Working For Water team. “I have not investigated the areas myself but the influx usually stems from residents,” he said.

Lucas said residents used the weed, which has a beautiful purple flower, to decorate their ponds and water features. “When it starts to overgrow they dump it in the river.” According to Lucas this reinfects the river system and the problem starts all over again. The water hyacinth has caused a decline in fish populations in Africa. – Taken from Dispatch.co.za 15/02/2011

Ok, so if Water Affairs doesn’t want to help the river then what? A classic case of passing the buck, our politicians are very good at doing that. Pity they are not as good at anything else.

I found this info on Wikipedia…

When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically impacts water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and starves the water of oxygen, often killing fish (or turtles). The plants also create a prime habitat for mosquitos, the classic vectors of disease, and a species of snail known to host a parasitic flatworm which causes schistosomiasis (snail fever).

Solution – I will definitely be sending our political parties a strong email. What nonsense is this passing the buck, if it isn’t your mandate then help us to get the right people in to fix the problem. Be part of the solution, Don’t add to it – silly man.

Wikipedia’s article has some interesting results at the end…

Industrial utilization

Since the plant has abundant nitrogen content, it can be used a substrate for biogas production and the sludge obtained from the biogas. However, due to easy accumulation of toxins, the plant is prone to get contaminated when used as feed.

Exogenous

The plant is extremely tolerant of, and has a high capacity for, the uptake of heavy metals, including Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Pb and Hg, which could make it suitable for the biocleaning of industrial wastewater [7],[8],[9],[10]. In addition to heavy metals, Eichhornia crassipes can also remove other toxins, such as cyanide, which is environmentally beneficial in areas that have endured gold mining operations [11].

Water hyacinth is also observed to enhance nitrification in waste water treatment cells of living technology. Their root zones are superb micro-sites for bacterial communities.[12]

Food for thought – this weed is not all bad, it’s just not any good in our Nahoon river. An import bit of information, that I will include in my emails.

The theme for the Met this year was larger than life and that would explain some the outfits and hats seen, msn.co.za posted so many weird and wonderful outfits that were worn at the recent J&B Met, we love these and I have some design ideas coming from these styles…

I love living in SA and been super proud of my home country is part of been “PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN”. This article I found on msn.co.za illistrates why I can’t help but ask “Really? Is it that important?” There are so many other issues in SA that need to be addressed by our political parties, but the ANC youth league chooses to focus on people parting away their money and paying big bucks to eat of women who are paid small fortunes compared to the working class Cape Town residents.

Take a look and scratch your head like we all did…

Kenny “Sushi King” Kunene Vows to Never Use Another Woman as a Platter – The ANC Youth League on Wednesday welcomed businessman Kenny Kunene’s commitment to stop serving sushi off women’s bodies. Gallo Images ANCYL president Julius Malema was present at Kunene’s birthday bash last year and the pre-opening of his Cape Town nightclub ZAR this weekend. At both events sushi was served off the bodies of scantily clad women.

“The ANCYL had in more than one occasion disapproved of such practice in the past and publicly voiced our disapproval,” league spokesman Floyd Shivambu said in a statement. He said the league, along with the ANC, would “continue to speak openly against practices that have potential to undermine the ethos of our revolution”. Following objections by the Africa National Congress, Kunene sent a letter to local media saying he would not hold any more sushi parties in future.

“I will not be throwing or attending any further such sushi parties as I have nothing but respect for the leadership of the ANC and the guiding principles of the movement,” The Star newspaper quoted him saying in a statement. He was responding to outrage triggered by photographs of him eating sushi off the semi-naked body of a model in Cape Town on Saturday night. It was Kunene’s version of the ancient Japanese custom of Nyotaimori or “body sushi”.

The model at Kunene’s party was draped across the bonnet of a white Maserati. ANCYL leader Julius Malema was quoted as saying at the party: “Helen Zille will not close ZAR at 2am, like she does other night clubs in Cape Town. The ANC owns ZAR and we will party until the morning.” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe then distanced the ruling party from the comments. “The ANC is not into nightclubs or partying, but is a revolutionary movement,” he said in a statement. Last year, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi lashed out at “the BEE types who blow up to R700,000 in one night on parties”, describing them as the “predatory elite”.

“It is the sight of these parties, where the elite display their wealth, often secured by questionable methods, that turns my stomach,” Vavi reportedly said, referring to Kunene’s 40th birthday bash at his Johannesburg nightclub. Kunene said he should not have to defend what he spent on a party to celebrate a milestone in his life. It was “honest money and we were having honest fun”. In a statement on Wednesday Cosatu in Gauteng said neither the ANCYL or the ANC Women’s League issued a statement on the practice last year when Vavi criticised it.

“The saga also demonstrates the correctness of the decision by the disciplinary committee of the ANC to subject some to political education in order for them to comprehend that [the] National Democratic Revolution is not only about national question but it also involve the class and gender question,” Cosatu Gauteng secretary Dumisani Dakile said in a statement. “The political school should also entail teaching such comrades about the values and principles of our struggle.”

Malema was sent to a disciplinary hearing last year and ordered to attend “political school” Dakile said he supported the ANCWL finally speaking out on the matter and calling for the practice to come to an end. The ANCWL should “press charges” against those involved, he said.

I read this post on msn.co.za. I find this waste of public funds, totally unacceptable. I hope our communities pull together and vote out over-spending and vote in people who really will do good-by our most needy citizens. It is those people who need the R70 million more then Jacob and his family.

Those are the people who should be coming before his creature comforts, I am sure he and his family HAD a home with running water, electricity and sanitation before he became president. The people who’s RDP houses did not get build, would love to live in Jacob’s old house. To them it would be a palace.

There’s some food for thought…

By SAPA, 2011/02/11

DA: more than R70m spent ensuring Zuma “lives large”

A press release from the DA stated that Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu Nkabinde revealed that R70 million was spent to renovate the five presidential residences over the last five years.

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Gallo Images

The release stated the following:

“In a reply to a DA parliamentary question received yesterday [Thursday], Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu Nkabinde revealed that more than R70 million has been spent on renovating the five presidential residences over the last five years, with almost R40 million being spent on President Jacob Zuma’s Pretoria residence, Mahlambandlopfu, alone. These figures are astonishing and constitute indulgent and wasteful expenditure of the highest order. It is deeply ironic that, on a day when President Jacob Zuma is due to offer another list of sweeping promises to South Africans, he has yet again been exposed as a leader who, in the face of chronic unemployment and poor delivery, has continued to place his taste for the finer things in life over the needs of the people he was elected to serve.

“President Zuma has repeatedly stated his commitment to addressing public concerns that the ANC government is “living large”. Indeed, he has expressed his intention to foster a “culture of greater prudence and less extravagance; achieving greater value for money and delivering more and better services with less resources”.

The figures contained in this parliamentary reply tell a very different story.

“That President Zuma has sanctioned the spending of tens of millions of rands of public funds on maintaining a lifestyle of excess and luxury is a powerful illustration of the President’s insincerity when making commitments to changing the ANC government’s culture of wasteful spending. It also reveals a disturbing disconnection from the pressing needs of millions of South Africans. The sum spent on the refurbishment of the five presidential residences over the past five years could have built over 1 200 RDP homes.

“It is worth noting that the figures contained in this reply cover only the structural and maintenance costs of the President’s five residences.

“Furthermore, this is not an exhaustive list of these costs as the Presidency failed to provide some of the figures on the grounds that they were “not readily available”, which raises concerns about the diligence of the Presidency in keeping accurate records of its expenditure, and the department’s approach to accountability.

“In a response to a parliamentary question in November last year, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane revealed that the running costs of the five presidential homes were in excess of R5 300 000 for 2009/10, excluding the salaries of the 113 staff employed to service them.

“The total cost of the running and maintenance of the President’s five official homes is therefore significantly in excess of those figures provided in the most recent parliamentary reply.

“The DA has submitted further questions to the Presidency to ascertain the cost of maintaining the staff complements of the various households, to enquire about anomalies in the figures contained in yesterday’s reply, and to determine exactly how often the President and Deputy President have used the five official residences since they assumed office. Such unnecessary extravagance has little place in a country’s where the alleviation of poverty and the provision of reliable services are its most pressing needs”.